By Timothy Bold
The Scene staff
Marilyn Minor was a successful beauty salon owner in St. Louis for more than 25 years before she finished high school.
The 58-year-old had dropped out her senior year.
“Back then, I got a real job making good money,” she said. “I made a bad mistake and suffered two strokes. God gave me another opportunity to come back 39 years later.”
Minor enrolled in the HiSET FastTrack Program at Forest Park. HiSET stands for high school equivalency test (formerly known as general education diploma or GED).
On June 7, Minor was one of 40 students who received high school equivalency certificates. It was Forest Park’s first graduating class since it began offering the FastTrack program last year.
Graduates, who ranged from 17 to 58, walked across the cafeteria stage with smiles and tears. A capacity crowd of more than 300 staff members, parents, families and friends clapped and cheered.
“I’m so excited and happy,” said Minor’s sister, Brenda James. “Her determination is amazing.”
Minor plans to pursue an associate’s degree at Forest Park. She hasn’t decided on a major.
All the graduates in the HiSET program were completing unfinished business. Each had his or her own reason for dropping out of high school.
Hagen Svendsen, 18, said he faced “economic class discrimination” at his school. He saw the HiSet program as a better way to accomplish his goals.
“I want to go to college, further my education and go into a career that I like,” he said.
The HiSET FastTrack Program allows students to work at their own pace. They must be at least 17 and test at a ninth-grade equivalency level. Staff sets up a curriculum after assessing each student’s entry test score.
“Some students take a couple of weeks,” said Kathy Bender, adult educational learning instructor at Forest Park. “Others can take months. It all depends on study habits.”
Paul Banda, a communications officer at Washington University and who attended HiSET preparation classes at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, was the keynote speaker at Forest Park’s graduation ceremony.
Graduate Ash Kaltmayer, 18, had enrolled in the program after experiencing difficulties with the normal high school curriculum.
“The traditional high school setting didn’t work for me,” she said. “The FastTrack program was personalized for what I needed to succeed.”
Kaltmayer’s mother, Sandy Costello, noticed a change in her daughter immediately after she started the program.
“She was coming home excited for the first time being in school,” Costello said. “I’m extremely proud and was a little emotional when she crossed the stage.”
Like Minor, Kaltmayer plans to pursue an associate’s degree at Forest Park. Graduate Dwight Futrell, 25, hopes to earn his real-estate license and buy, sell and develop property.
“By going back to school, I wanted to show leadership, open doors and be an example to other people that age doesn’t matter,” he said. “I came from a pretty rough environment on the north side of St. Louis. (Graduating is) an experience I’ve never had and a feeling I will always remember.”
Some graduates needed the certificate as a requirement for their employment. That included Theresa Young, 33, a sterile-processing technician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
“If I can accomplish that, I can do anything,” she said. “I wanted to be an example for my daughter.”
The HiSET FastTrack Program started eight years ago at the St. Patrick Center in downtown St. Louis. The graduation rate has been about 88 percent.
The program relocated to the Forest Park campus last August because the requirements of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant forced St. Patrick’s Center to eliminate all programs not related to housing.
“(HiSET FastTrack instructors) wanted to stay in the city and continue our program,” Bender said.
Enrollment in Forest Park’s program resumes in July. Students can register by calling 314-984-7777 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday or 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Fridays.
Instruction can occur online or in person. Forest Park instructors are available from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in F Tower, Room 327. Student tutors are available every day.
The certification exam costs $95, which is covered by a grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Students also get free Metro passes.
Micki Hoffman, an STLCC caseworker, assists graduates who want to transition into the WorkForce Solutions Group, STLCC associate’s degree programs or bachelor’s programs at four-year universities.
